Former MSU basketball player with autism leads anti-bullying campaign

Former Michigan State basketball player Anthony Ianni is the first known person with Autism Spectrum Disorder to play Division I college basketball.

Raymond Holt

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Our conversation with Anthony Ianni, leader of the Relentless Tour.

Doctors told Anthony Ianni's parents he’d have a tough time graduating high school. As for college? Forget it. The doctors predicted he would wind up living in a group home. But Ianni had other ideas.

Anthony has Pervasive Development Disorder, which puts him on the autism spectrum. Despite the dire predictions of his doctors, Ianni became the first person with Autism Spectrum Disorder to play college basketball in the Big Ten Conference. Not only that, but he played at one of the country's top programs at Michigan State. Ianni was in East Lansing between 2009 and 2012 and was part of the Spartan teams that won two Big Ten championships, a Big Ten tournament title and made an appearance in the NCAA Final Four.

Ianni graduated from MSU with a degree in sociology and now works with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, where he is leading the fight against bullying by taking his Relentless Tour to schools around Michigan.

Ianni joined Stateside to talk about his journey from a kid from nearby Okemos who was bullied, to an athlete playing for Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State.

Listen to the full interview above to hear about his own experiences with having autism, his conversations with bullies, and his advice for kids who face bullying in their own lives.

We in Michigan usually take great pride in our state's natural beauty and precious resources. So, I find it incredibly disheartening that one of our state's most beautiful and precious resources – its autistic community – is largely misunderstood, marginalized and woefully under-valued.

For a child on the autism spectrum, there can be challenges to learning and engaging with the world.

Our latest contributors to The Next Idea are Sean Ahlquist and Leah Ketcheson. They're on a team from the University of Michigan that's developing exciting new technologies to help autistic children tackle those challenges.

Adults with autism often face a life of unemployment despite the fact that many are brilliant and have exceptional skills.

The Autism Alliance of Michigan is encouraging employers to hire potential workers with autism, taking advantage of their skills while making considerations to accommodate the challenges people with autism face.

Steven Glowacki has an IQ of 150, scored a 1520 on the SAT and placed in the 95th percentile for a Certified Public Accountant test. The bottom line? He’s pretty darn smart.